


The Only Truth

by alexcat



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), Tony Stark-centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-25
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-08-29 09:06:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16741075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alexcat/pseuds/alexcat
Summary: Losing Steve is more than Tony can cope with.





	The Only Truth

**Author's Note:**

> This is what happens when I listen to my playlist.

The Only Truth

~

_The only truth I know is you._  
~ Paul Simon 

~

Tony Stark was sure he hadn’t slept in years. 

Not since Siberia. 

He hadn’t known then that he loved Rogers. He knew they fucked and argued and mixed like oil and water. He knew that Rogers irritated him more than anyone he’d ever met. He knew that   
the man was a righteous bastard, always holding the moral high ground, until suddenly he didn’t. 

Tony had thought he was cool and above something as pedestrian as falling in love. He used people to fill his needs, but that much abused heart of his was safe. 

He hadn’t slept since that old man delivered the box containing the note and phone to Tony ‘Stank’. 

Rhodey and Pepper had given up trying to talk to him. Happy ignored the shape he was in, pretending instead that Tony was his normal self. 

He’d gotten engaged to Pepper. Why not? She took care of him anyway. 

He built a new Arc Reactor for his chest – just to call the suit, he told Pepper. He needed it. He needed it to be sure that his heart was still there at all. 

He didn’t even make sense to himself anymore. 

Then Stephen Strange showed up. 

*

On the dying planet of Titan, he realized many things, the main one being that his whole life had been one big lie. 

He’d guarded his heart, because it broke so easily, so many times. 

The truth was his heart was completely lost when he’d met Rogers. Though he’d denied it to himself at the time, his blood sang in his veins that his one true love had come into his life. Rogers had set his loins and his soul on fire. Tony had hated him for it. 

He told himself that it was only lust. The sex was good, incredible, but he’d liked being around Rogers, too. That should have clued him in. It didn’t. He was a good liar, even to himself. He convinced himself that he just liked fucking something so beautiful. 

Now it was too late. 

He’d never told him, never said the words. He would die with Rogers never knowing how much he did care, how much he loved him. He had no definitive idea how the other man felt, but he remembered how Rogers looked at him sometimes, the longing in those clear blue eyes. 

*

The blue woman had thrown him into the little ship, hooked him up to some machines and told him to keep his mouth shut. Thankfully he’d passed out and stayed out for a lot of the trip. The pain had been more than he could stand and his mind had simply turned off. 

“Wake up, human. We are approaching your planet.”

She’d dragged him up and he’d felt wonder when he saw Earth. From the distance of space, he couldn’t see the turmoil and suffering there. All he saw was beauty. 

She’d lifted him like he was a baby and carried him out into the light. It was so bright that it hurt his eyes when they stepped out of the small craft onto the ground. 

The first thing he saw was Rogers’ face. He was dark, beard, long hair, dark clothes. His eyes were hollow, the set of his jaw was hard. He was looking at those eyes when Rogers recognized that he was alive. He’d stepped forward, took Tony from the woman. 

Tony tried to speak, but no words would come out. He heard words all around him though. 

“Pretty bad… not sure we can save him…lost so much blood…poor Stark…” 

He was swimming in something thick, dark… he opened his eyes and there were shapes. Heads peering at him. Not Rogers. He closed his eyes again. Didn’t matter who they were, if Rogers wasn’t there. He drifted. 

“Tony, wake up. I need you to wake up.” The voice was Rogers, but he couldn’t seem to open his eyes. He tried to talk, but he couldn’t make his mouth work. 

“Captain, he is stable. He’ll come around. It may take a few days. His injuries would have killed someone less stubborn.” A woman, a young one by her voice. “You can stay with him as long as you wish. I’ll check back later.”

“Tony, I wish I could take your place. I’m worthless here. All I know is war. You could help fix this mess. You have to come back to me.”

He drifted again. 

He tried to open his eyes and this time he saw Rogers. He tried to talk, a sound, not words, came out. 

“Don’t try to talk yet.” Rogers. 

He closed his eyes and rested.

He woke to the sound of Rogers talking. To him. 

“I love you, Tony. I think I have since you landed in Stuttgart. I know for certain that I have since you called me ‘Capsicle’ on the plane.” 

Rogers stopped talking for a while and Tony thought he might have slept some.

This time when he woke, he opened his eyes again. He tried to smile though he wasn’t sure his face got the instructions. He tried to speak. He made a sound this time. 

“Rogers…”

“I’m here.” He felt a hand take his, he saw his hand being lifted to Rogers’ lips. He kissed Tony’s palm. “I almost lost you, and I never told you how much I love you.” He saw the unshed tears in those eyes. 

He spoke, his voice raspy and hard to understand. “You need a shave. I love you, too.” It was all he had the energy for. He lay back. 

Steve smiled at him. 

He slept. He was home and safe at last.


End file.
